Once in a while, when on road trips, we run low on gasoline. No problem. There are lots of roadside gasoline vendors, even in remote areas.

For a first-timer in Cambodia, you might mistaken this roadside stall for a drink shop because of the soda bottles. It is actually a makeshift “gas station”.

Gasoline is smuggled across the border, in plain sight, and sold in shops like this in rural villages, quite openly, even in the capital Phnom Penh. Gasoline is sold in re-used soda and plastic water bottles and are displayed out front, as you see in the above photo. You don’t see this in developed countries.

Anyhoo, I finally got around to sorting and sifting through our Khmer New Year holiday photos from Kep and Kampot! *applause*

We only stayed in Kep for three days and two nights (including a day trip to Kampot and to Bokor mountain) but it felt like I was home. Truly. On one hand, Kep was my (and my husband’s) home, my base, from 2006-2008, due to work. On the other had, my hometown, Roxas City, shares similarities with Kep – both have hills, the sea, and of course, the glorious seafood! It’s been years since our last holiday in Kep so, on the day we traveled, it felt like coming home.

Are we there yet? Almost.And we’ve arrived. Mmmm, see you at dinnertime, Mssrs. Crab and Shrimp.The new road to Kep town centre.Our favourite Kim Ly restaurant was closed for the holidays so we had dinner at Srey Pov restaurant instead. It was good, but Kim Ly’s still the best!The swimming pool at Kep Lodge where we stayed provided us with a refreshing embrace after a day spent outdoors.Watching the sun go down from the upper floor of Kep Lodge restaurant.

I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised at how huge the transformation in Kep was. So many shiny hotels and establishments, super-wide and smooth roads (the road from Seh Sor, or the White Horse statue, to Kep is undergoing construction so it remains dusty!), a renovated Psah Kdam (Crab Market) teeming with people and a bottle-neck traffic jam greeted us. It is no longer the sleepy beachtown that I knew the first time I set foot there.

The highlight of our holiday was our side-trip to Kampot — we drove to Bokor Hill station. It was the best drive ever and the view gets more amazing as you ride higher and higher! The road to Bokor Hill station snakes through more than 40kms. of partially-cleared jungle in the national park and one that is, by far, the best road in the country. It is no longer the bone-jarring drive that it used to be, hurrah! Here is a short video clip of our Bokor run.

Halfway up Bokor mountain, we decided to have a break…… and we have this view all to ourselves!

Half an hour so later after our pit stop, we’ve arrived. We’re face to face with the ruins of Bokor Palace Hotel and Casino, or as the French calls it, Le Bokor Palace. For so many years I’ve been pining to see this with my own eyes and, when I finally got to see it, it was disappointing. The structure of what was once the hotel, the favourite getaway of the French colonialists and the rich Khmers in its heydays, still stands there but was plastered in grey cement, the result of the “renovation” that was done not long ago. To me, it totally destroyed the charm of the naturally decaying building. It no longer looks like this (click to see)… Que horror!

The facade of the refurbished Bokor Palace Hotel.Saw different floor tile designs there.The stairs that go down and down… notice the garbage?A view from one of the refurbished wings.The grand fireplace at the main lobby of the hotel.Stories of gamblers who lost their fortune in the hotel’s casino tables jumping off the cliff to escape their miseries abound.Ghost sightings and stories of hauntings in the hotel are also told by many locals.An old Catholic church built by the French in 1920s.

A few metres down the road, on the way back, we stopped by to check out this old, abandoned Catholic church built by the French in 1920s. It is standing there forlornly, as an enduring reminder and a silent witness to Bokor’s golden years in the past and the rapid developments it is undergoing at present. More about the church in my future posts.

We only stayed long enough to see these two landmarks. On the way down, we had a look at the various developments in the area as we passed by. It is sad to say that these odd-looking structures that were built recently (and many more are being built) have taken away the beauty and appeal of the landscape of Bokor.

We also dropped by Epic Arts for some nourishment when we reached Kampot town proper and we were not disappointed. They still serve the best sandwiches and beverages in town. I was secretly hoping to meet some of the stars of Epic Arts who were in this music video, but no such luck. Perhaps another time.

We pretty much moved around Kep and Kampot with Hagrid, our trusty Honda motorbike. Except for the aches from sore muscles and a bit of sunburn, there are no regrets.

Over-all, it has been a wonderful holiday in Kep. It is very refreshing to be able to escape the hustle and bustle of city life and take the much-needed rest in a place devoid of city-noise, explore local sights, be around people with simple and laidback lifestyles, and partake of the fresh bounty from the sea that we longed for. It is for these reasons that we keep coming back to Kep.

Here’s another post, recalling some moments associated with the signs that I took a photo of during my Laos trip.

After crossing the Laos border and finishing immigration formalities at noontime, we were picked up by a van along with many other backpackers. The van traversed a smooth highway that didn’t seem to end and with hardly a traffic at that time of the day. The view was pretty much the same as the Cambodian countryside and the weather equally as hot as a sunny day in Cambodia.

An hour or so later, after passing through several villages and Wat Phu signs, we were deposited at a pier (the name escapes me now). A lot of those who were with us in the van were going to Don Det, a small island sitting in the middle of the Laos side of the Mekong River, while my husband and I had to wait for another van that would take us to Pakse.

Khmer Iggy was tempted to take the ferry to Don Det in Laos but it wasn’t part of our itinerary.

Don Det, I found out, is one of the bigger islands of Si Phan Don (meaning 4,000 islands) measuring about four kilometers long and is a backpacker’s haven.

After so many years, I found the SD card that contained most of my travel pictures. Happy head now that I’m reunited with my Laos pictures, some five years later!

This photo below was taken in one of the road trips my husband and I did some years ago. Of course, my travelling doll, Khmer Iggy, was with me during that trip. Khmer Iggy finds the buses in Laos delightfully colourful, except for a few that are -ahem- gaudily decorated. You can find more of Khmer Iggy and her other sisters’ travels around the world here – Postcards from Miss Igorota.

Khmer Iggy posing in front of the overnight tourist bus that took us to Vientiane.

The sign on the side of the bus says “Vientiane, Pakse”.
Paksé is a city in Champasak district of Laos and is the halfway-point to Vientiane, the capital, when entering Laos via one of the border crossing in Cambodia’s Stung Treng province. It is also one of the most-visited cities in Laos due to its popular attractions of Wat Phu (an ancient Khmer temple ruins) and Si Phan Don (popularly known as the 4,000islands, much similar to the Philippines’ Hundred Islands).

These are French-styled Khmer flats that are for sale or rent down on the southeast coast of Kampot. These flats are unbelievably {expensive} as they are right in the middle of the town facing Kampong Bay river.

The Kampot riverside is lined with pretty French colonial flats that have, more often than not, shophouses on the ground floor.

My brother took this photo during a visit to Kampot last year and he gave me permission to post it here after my fruitless search for an entry that fits this week’s theme.

It’s been awhile since I last blogged about life in Cambodia. I had several in my drafts folder but, for the life of me, I could not seem to finish even one post. I’m soooo lazy these days… plus, I started working on a new project recently so I’m just going to post pictures instead.

Wintermelons of rural Cambodia.

I saw this pile of huge tralach, or wintermelons, in one of the small markets in Kampong Chhnang province while waiting for the boat that would take us to one of our beneficiary areas.

Photo taken when we left Phnom Penh and we’re heading out to the dusty roads of rural Cambodia. We didn’t have any particular destination that time but a road trip in Cambodia is always fun and worth your while. We made stops at roadside stalls selling fruits, coconuts, and boiled corn. Visited temples and chatted to young monks and the achars (laymen). Smiling and waving back at schoolchildren on bicycles and on foot screaming “hellooo” at us. There was dust everywhere but the kids seemed not to mind. It’s free powder for everyone… and, if you are not careful enough and talk too much all throughout the trip, you will literally eat dust.